Alvin Wong of Manoa was dubbed the Happiest Man in America last year by The , but it apparently wasn’t until he was listening to the Dalai Lama, who visited Hawaii last week, that he realized why he was so happy. It wasn’t because he fit all the metrics: Tall, Asian-American, an observant Jew who is at least 65 and married with children, lives in Hawaii, runs his own business and has a household income of more than $120,000 a year. Rather, he said, it was because, as the Dalai Lama explained, happiness comes from not taking yourself too seriously.

"That’s it! That’s the key. I’ve always made fun of things," he recalled thinking at the time in an interview with the Star-Advertiser’s Dan Nakaso.

Dog-breeding bill in the doghouse

Time is running out for the state Senate’s attempt to regulate dog breeders to yield any results this session.

The Senate had grabbed House Bill 108, a measure on dogfighting, and turned it into a vehicle for a new section of law that would set minimum standards of care for owners of more than 10 dogs capable of breeding, limit ownership to 30 such dogs and require records to be kept.

As of late last week the House and Senate were nowhere near having the bill read by Thursday’s deadline. Supporters better bark louder.